U.S. Sen. Doug Jones speaks at the Hoover Crescent Islamic Center on May 26, 2018, as Khaula Hadeed, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Alabama, looks on. (Photo/Greg Garrison)Photo by Greg Garrison/AL.com

U.S. Sen. Doug Jones visited the Hoover Crescent Islamic Center on Saturday night, giving a speech to about 200 Muslims before they broke their daytime fasting with an evening meal after sunset in observance of their holy month of Ramadan.

"The people of this state have so much more in common than what divides us," Jones said.

A coalition of 21 Alabama Muslim organizations sent a letter of congratulations after his election, inviting Jones to visit a mosque to meet with members of the Muslim community and better understand that part of his constituency.

Jones responded to the invitation that was sent after his election from Alabama Muslims who said they supported him statewide over the Republican nominee for senate, former Chief Justice Roy Moore. Moore had made several derogatory comments about Muslims during the campaign.

Hadeed said Moore had called Islam a "false religion" and made other disparaging remarks about Muslims and their faith. Muslims invited Moore to visit a mosque last year but did not receive a response, she said.

"The fact that Alabama rejected Roy Moore was a really big deal around the country," Jones said. "It sends an incredible message of dignity and inclusion."

Jones, a longtime member of Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook, said it was the first time he has been inside a mosque. Officials with CAIR of Alabama said they were not aware of any Alabama senator having previously ever visited a mosque in the state.

"I'm going to be there by you to make sure that this community gets the dignity and respect you deserve, that anytime something happens in this world where they attach the word terrorism, that it is not an indictment of an entire people," Jones said.

Jones said President Donald Trump's repeated verbal attacks on immigrants are harmful.